


The stars in his eyes.

by ToxicPineapple



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Anything with Gonta is automatically pure, Character Study, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gonta uses good grammar, I'm a dub kid I just, Introspection, Just a smol one though, Love Across The Universe: Dangan Salmon Team, M/M, Pure, You may need to see your dentist after reading this, also Gonta is SMART you assholes, he's not a caveman, hhhh, literally no angst, mutual pining (?), my boys???, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-03 20:15:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19471372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToxicPineapple/pseuds/ToxicPineapple
Summary: “Is Shuichi tired?” Gonta inquires, and Shuichi blinks back into reality, staring sleepily into Gonta’s pretty red eyes. They’re concerned, but not worried necessarily, and soft, too, like he’s looking at someone he really cares about. It sort of makes the detective melt.“Yeah,” he admits, and yawns, but on accident. When he comes out of it, swaying slightly, Gonta’s hand finds purchase on his upper arm. At any other moment the action would make him nervous, no matter how safe he feels around the entomologist, but right now he’s too tired and happy to care. He’ll psychoanalyse this moment later. Right now he feels soft, and the air tastes sweet, like honeydew. “I’m… sorry, I’m really interested in what you were saying…”“Gonta stopped talking about five minutes ago,” Gonta confides with a smile, and if Shuichi didn’t know better, he’d almost say the expression is a little playful.---Gonta tells Shuichi about the stars.





	The stars in his eyes.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mddnapstablook](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mddnapstablook/gifts).



It’s late, closer to the other end of the night at this point, and against all logic the air has a sharp, cool bite to it. The dark sky is spotted with stars Shuichi is unaccustomed to seeing in his every-day life- being in the city will do that to a person- and the moon, off to the right, casts a silver glow upon everything. It’s a relaxing scene, really, and the extra jacket tucked around his shoulders does its part in helping him ignore the chilly breeze that is making the trees wave and leaves scatter. If he closes his eyes and ignores his thoughts, all he can hear is the rustling of those leaves; the faint trickle of the fountain in the Shrine of Judgement.

As lovely as it all is, he’s sure he’d be enjoying it more without the underlying fact that they’re all trapped here. Still, as odd and sporadic as Monokuma’s instructions have been the whole time they’ve been in this academy, Shuichi can’t bring himself to mind their circumstances so much. He misses his uncle, and his wife, and he misses the thrum of his every-day life, but there are a number of things that he doesn’t miss, or he couldn’t miss. And there are a number of things about this place that make things alright, for the time being.

One of them is the sky full of stars that stretches out above his head. They’re breathtaking, and it’s been ages since he’s really seen them in their full expanse like this. The other, though, is the person sitting next to him.

Gonta’s red eyes, wide and fully visible through his lense-less glasses, are soft and sparkly, focused on the stars. He’s smiling, gently, though Shuichi is pretty sure that’s just his resting face. There hasn’t been much tonight to make Gonta smile like that. (Still, it’s nice to see.) The thought spurs him to reach up and touch the coat that the entomologist draped over his shoulders about half an hour ago, mirroring Gonta’s smile almost to himself. He hadn’t been complaining about the cold to get that reaction- though, in retrospect, he’s not really sure what he was expecting, talking about that sort of thing with Gonta. The boy is a gentleman, after all.

It hadn’t even been much of a complaint, really, all he’d said was that it was kind of chilly out here, and Gonta had immediately tucked the coat around Shuichi’s shoulders without a second thought. The gentle manner with which he did so, and carefully buttoned the top button so as to keep it from falling off, had made Shuichi a little lightheaded, but thankfully he managed to suppress the ever growing urge to faint, because Gonta is so self-deprecating already, he’s not sure if he’d be alright with himself if that were to occur.

(Though, out of all of his classmates, he’s certain that Gonta would be the one to treat it properly. That’s one of the reasons why he’s out here to begin with, watching the stars. Or, rather, watching Gonta watch the stars, because they’re quite pretty, but Gonta looks nicer.)

The silence is nice, tastes sweet like honeydew, and the detective is comfortable. He’s gotten a couple other silences like this, with a number of people- Maki and Ryoma come to mind- but with the people who he’s closest to within this academy, he often finds it difficult to settle into something like this. Kaito always gets uncomfortable in the longer moments. He has a bit of a complex, that which disables him from letting the moment settle, and more often than not he’ll break the silence within the first couple moments. Kaede is similar, perhaps because she feels like she has to please others to the extent that she immediately assumes Shuichi is feeling awkward if he isn’t speaking (a fair assumption, as Shuichi is generally feeling awkward) so she’ll break the silence in some way pretty quickly as well. As for the others, like Tenko and Kokichi and Angie- well, they’re just genuinely audacious, and Shuichi could see them maybe quieting down if he spent the time trying to get them to, but he’s honestly not really willing to put in the effort.

He likes them, of course; he likes all of his classmates. But to devote time to getting their trust would mean taking time away from spending time with Gonta, and that’s not really what he’s interested in at the moment.

Because with Gonta, it’s sort of like… he gets nervous, obviously, and Shuichi is always nervous so it’s nothing new, but it’s like a different kind of nervousness. A gentle tickle to the inside of his stomach, a feather against his trachea, a giggle reverberating through his chest, making him lighter. The rush of dopamine he always receives whenever Gonta is around is enough to make him want to spend almost every moment with the entomologist. Which, in his opinion, is a pretty fair desire, all things considered. It’s hard _not_ to want to spend time around Gonta.

It’s not just that, though. It’s also that he’s comfortable, really and truly comfortable, in Gonta’s presence. Oh, sure, there are obviously those moments where the boy gets kind of intense about bugs, and the bugs themselves make Shuichi want to die inside a little, but in his opinion it’s more than worth it. It’s rare for him to feel so honestly safe and non-threatened around another person. Working with his uncle in the way that he does, he’s constantly surrounded by people who are trying to deceive him. Clients and people he’s hired to track down alike. Coupled with Shuichi’s anxiety and there’s no wonder he feels so nervous all the time. Even with people he trusts wholeheartedly, like Kaito and Kaede, it’s hard for him to relax at times. But things have never been like that with Gonta, even from the first moment they met one another.

He’s sweet, is all. Sweet and observant and patient and a lot smarter than any of his classmates will admit. But it’s easy, Shuichi supposes, to call somebody dumb when they are quick to say the same thing of themselves, but it isn’t true, and it’s frustrating to listen to, he’s not going to lie about it.

At this point, he’s gone on a complete tangent, and Gonta’s gaze has shifted from the sky to meet Shuichi’s eyes; when they do make eye contact, and the entomologist catches him staring, his face flushes and he pulls away his gaze, apologising as if he’s got anything to be sorry for. Shuichi’s cheeks redden in kind but he doesn’t want Gonta to feel embarrassed, so he decides to break the silence further than it’s already been broken.

“Uhm, Gokuhara,” he prompts gently, shifting and angling his body towards the other boy to open the space for conversation. Gonta wears a (slightly flustered) patient smile as he tilts his head to the side, waiting kindly for Shuichi to continue. “You mentioned that… the stars we see here aren’t the same ones you’re used to, that’s correct, isn’t it?”

“Yes, Gonta isn’t used to these ones.” Gonta agrees thoughtfully, pulling his gaze away from Shuichi’s and looking up at the sky again. The look on his face is pensive, now, something that the detective actually sees rather often from the other boy, if only during the quieter moments like these ones. “Gonta is used to… well, Gonta’s family called the constellations other things, not the names Shuichi is probably used to,” he admits with a small smile.

“Ah, really?” Shuichi finds himself smiling too, fiddling with one of the thin bracelets he has on his right ankle as he raises his eyebrows. “Can you tell me about them?”

“Oh, without a visual, Gonta probably won’t be very good…” the entomologist frowns, brow furrowing, and Shuichi moves to speak, but Gonta beats him to it. “Still, Gonta can try! How much does Shuichi know about the stars? The ones at home, not these ones? Gonta is sure that we see the same stars.”

Humming, Shuichi contemplates a proper response. “I think we _do_ see the same stars,” he begins, and it’s his turn to be the ruminant, wondering how to word what popped into his head before. “But I live in the city, and there are so many street lights, they drown out the stars. Do you remember that part of civilisation, Gokuhara?” And he knows that he’s already asked a question, and for the sake of politeness, he shouldn’t ask others, but he’s curious, because he knows as well that Gonta has _two_ families, not one- one of them, of course, lives in the forest, but the other does not.

“Gonta does,” Gonta nods as he gives the affirmation, though his words are rather clear. “How many stars does Shuichi see, then?”

“I’m, ah, not sure if I could count them,” he smiles sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “But I can usually see Ursa Minor… uhm, that’s the one that… hold on.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his Monopad, opening the crude note-taking app that Monokuma supplied them with (“Just in case I change my mind and decide to run a killing game, in which case you’ll need a place to take some notes for the Class Trials!”) and selects the drawing option, using his finger to do a quick sketch of the constellation. He’s nowhere near an expert on this type of thing- that would be Kaito’s area, or apparently Gonta’s, but he has enough rudimentary knowledge to draw _Ursa Minor._ When he’s finished, he shows the picture.

“Ohh,” Gonta nods. “Gonta recognises that one! This one is the brightest star!” He taps the screen and Shuichi leans forward to see what he’s looking at. Polaris, he believes that star is called.

“That’s right, the Northern Star,” Shuichi confirms with a different kind of smile than before. “People have used it to find their way home in the past. Does it have the same connotation for you, Gokuhara?”

“Yes, it does!” Gonta agrees excitedly. “Gonta’s family in the woods called it the home star… but Gonta has also heard it called the Northern Star, and also Polaris!” Shuichi nods, unsurprised by the fact that the other boy knows that Latin name. Honestly, he’s more impressed with _himself_ for remembering it at all. Kaito would be very proud of him. (Well, maybe not very, but he’d be at least slightly proud. Shuichi doesn’t specialise, after all, and Kaito is all about celebrating tiny accomplishments, of which the detective has many.)

“Do you have names for the other stars in this shape? Or do they make up other constellations?” Of course, he’s asking out of a place of genuine interest, but Shuichi also wants to hear Gonta explain it. Gonta is so bright, and nobody seems to see it the same way that he does. It’s frustrating but it gives him a strange happiness to think that he’s one of the only people who sees Gonta this way, excited and unconcerned about all those arbitrarily selfless things he’s always so absorbed by. Shuichi wouldn’t have him any other way, of course, but it gives him secondhand stress to see the boy worrying so much about the others. Especially Kokichi, of course, but others too. And he wants the rest of his classmates to acknowledge Gonta for how impressive he is, for how brilliant he is, but there’s a part of him that selfishly wants to keep these moments to himself. The way Gonta’s eyes light up when he talks about these things- there’s something intimate about it being a shared thing, between the two of them.

It makes Shuichi feel a little dizzy, to be honest. Gonta goes off on an explanation, even uses Shuichi’s Monopad to sketch out a couple of the other constellations. For somebody with such large hands, he has a rather gentle touch, and the way he places the stars is very careful. Shuichi already knew he was a talented artist, somebody who had complete control over his body and the ability to do pretty remarkable things in that area, but it’s another thing to watch him as he maps out the stars from memory.

Shuichi remembers those stars, vaguely, from a camping trip his uncle took him on when he was younger. He remembers seeing them above his head, marveling at the hugeness of it all. To some the vastness of the universe is stressful, and for somebody so easily stressed out as Shuichi, it would make sense for him to be one of them, but it’s the opposite, really. The size of the universe has always given him hope. In a place so big, there has to be at least one other being who feels the same was as he does, thinks the same things he does, fears the same things he does. Shuichi has never been the kind of person to be stressed out about individuality. That thought is comforting. It tells him he isn’t alone. Perhaps the stars have always made him feel that way, in a sense.

But he doesn’t much care about those stars right now. The ones that matter to him at the moment are the ones in Gonta’s eyes, the ones shimmering above their heads. Shuichi is almost certain they’re not real; a projection by whoever controls Monokuma, put up there to confuse him, but he doesn’t care, even in the slightest. Despite the chill, at the moment, Shuichi feels warm. All the blood rushing to his face makes him feel pleasant and comfortable rather than dizzy, and after a while he starts feeling like he might fall asleep- only because he’s comfortable, and safe. The tenor rumble of Gonta’s gentle voice is pleasant, and soothing, and it sounds familiar, even though they haven’t known each other very long. At times Shuichi sort of feels like they’ve known each other forever.

“Is Shuichi tired?” Gonta inquires, and Shuichi blinks back into reality, staring sleepily into Gonta’s pretty red eyes. They’re concerned, but not worried necessarily, and soft, too, like he’s looking at someone he really cares about. It sort of makes the detective melt.

“Yeah,” he admits, and yawns, but on accident. When he comes out of it, swaying slightly, Gonta’s hand finds purchase on his upper arm. At any other moment the action would make him nervous, no matter how safe he feels around the entomologist, but right now he’s too tired and happy to care. He’ll psychoanalyse this moment later. Right now he feels soft, and the air tastes sweet, like honeydew. “I’m… sorry, I’m really interested in what you were saying…”

“Gonta stopped talking about five minutes ago,” Gonta confides with a smile, and if Shuichi didn’t know better, he’d almost say the expression is a little playful. “Just… wanted to watch Shuichi for a moment. But Gonta should bring you to your room.”

“Ah, you don’t… have to…” Shuichi murmurs, then immediately loses all of his credibility by leaning forward and resting his head on Gonta’s shoulder. He smells good, too, and his shoulder is awfully comfortable, and Shuichi’s pretty sure that the entomologist doesn’t need to worry about going back to his room, because he’ll just fall asleep _right here._

“No, it’s the… gentlemanly thing to do,” Gonta eventually says, and with that he stands. Shuichi makes to follow suit, but Gonta, without a word, reaches out and lifts Shuichi into his arms. It’s effortless, and makes the detective almost feel like he weighs absolutely nothing at all, like a cloud, or something. The thought isn’t so unpleasant. In fact, it makes him smile. “Thank you for coming out with Gonta tonight, Shuichi. Watching the stars and talking felt nice.”

“...liked it too.” Shuichi mumbles, closing his eyes. He wants to say more, say they should do this more often, but Gonta starts walking, and the gentle movement of the entomologist’s arms with the action is enough to drag him off to sleep. Before he _does_ fall unconscious, he murmurs, “Thanks for… talking to me…” and he’s not even sure if Gonta hears him before he falls asleep.

(Gonta does, though, and when he gets back to Shuichi’s room and it occurs to him that he can’t exactly get in without a key, he dies inside a little because it means he either has to dig in Shuichi’s pockets or have the detective sleep in his room. Ultimately, Gonta goes with the less invasive option, deciding to explain to Shuichi in the morning, and takes the couch, because it’s the gentlemanly thing to do. But even if it wasn’t, he’s pretty sure he’d do it anyway, because Shuichi’s just the kind of person who deserves people to do nice things for him. Someone that sweet, Gonta rationalises, deserves way more than that.)

**Author's Note:**

> hi Mary :D
> 
> anyway,,, so I've been meaning to write this piece for like seven years lmao. I'm sorry that I'm not sorry if you followed me for different ships, this one is too good and way too underrated
> 
> I felt awkward writing Gonta at first but I think I got into it at the end lmao ajdsfbadkfb I have to write him more
> 
> (calm ur tits with your Rantaro obsession Toxic)
> 
> in other news... WOW they're soft. I love them with my Entire Soul and also the rest of it
> 
> so,,,,, yeah I hope u enjoyed
> 
> and I hope,,,,,,,,,,,,, I did these boys some justice because Gonta deserves the WORLD and Shuichi?? is that world
> 
> bye comments are great


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